Three new New York casinos behind their revenue projections

Note: This story by Lauren Stanforth appeared in Sunday’s edition of the Times Union.

New York state’s three licensed casinos are hundreds of millions of dollars behind what they projected they would make in their first year of operation.

Del Lago, Rivers and Tioga Downs had brought in $222 million in combined gross gaming revenue by the end of August — $366 million less than what they predicted they would make in 2017 when their projects were pitched to the state Gaming Facility Location Board, according to data provided to the Times Union earlier this month by the New York state Gaming Commission.

As a result, tax revenues received by the state and the local municipalities that were to benefit from the casino businesses are also a fraction of what was promised — $70 million sent to government coffers by summer’s end. The amount is far less than the $325 million Gov. Andrew Cuomo said would come from all the casinos once the fourth, Resorts World, opens in Thompson, Sullivan County, next year.

The gaming industry and local officials who pushed for the casinos say it takes a few years to see how business will fare, and that the economically challenged municipalities are still benefiting from the more than 3,300 jobs created. When pushing for the public vote in 2013 that opened the way for destination resort casinos, Cuomo noted that Las Vegas-like facilities would also bring tourism dollars back to New York from out of state.

But casino operators recently said at a panel discussion in Saratoga Springs that the industry has already reached saturation, with the upstate market shouldering six race tracks with video lottery terminals and six Indian nation casinos — with a seventh planned for Madison County.

4 Responses

While the point is made the article uses some curious math that actually makes the situation look worse than it is. For example, what is the significance of pointing out that Rivers has only collected “37 percent of the $222 million in gaming revenue it said it would make the first year” when it didn’t open until February 10 and there is 1/3 of the year left? They have collected $82M rather than the $122M that simple math would project. Also unaddressed is seasonality–do the casinos generally collect consistently throughout the year or is revenue uneven, and if so how? Is summer a good or bad time?
Not a casino fan but fair is fair.

If and when Cuomo responds it will be a spin of his own, as we have already seen with StartUp-NY, SUNY Poly, Buffalo Billions, Solar City, the moviemaking complex, MTA, Hoosick Falls, TZ Bridge, Irene recovery, etc. Andrew is very long on promises but extremely short on results, kind of a King Midas in reverse.

Why not open a vegas-style brothel at the rivers casino? There is quite a bit of solicitation happening at all times of the day and night. At least if it was made legal, then the state could tax it too!